Issue Highlights

In an intervention involving 93 parents of infants treated in a Canadian neonatal care unit (NICU), the parents received physical certificates and text messages each week celebrating their baby's milestones. An evaluation showed that parents appreciated the intervention, which helped them cope with the hospital experience and provided feelings of empowerment, patience, and hope [1].

Physical activity and screen time were evaluated among children aged 4–17 in Sweden before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in a study by Kägi-Braun et al. [2]. They found that screen time increased during COVID-19 and remained high afterward. In contrast, physical activity trends were more difficult to interpret but tended to be lower during the pandemic before levelling off after the pandemic. In an editorial, Sisela Nutley comments that increased screen time at the population level is concerning for several reasons [3].

Turkish healthcare staff faced significant challenges managing paediatric trauma patients after the major 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquakes, which killed more than 50 000 people. Aslan et al. describe how their large referral centre treated complex cases [4]. Crush syndrome, compartment syndrome and acute kidney injuries were the most common complications after the earthquake. The authors conclude that an effective disaster response plan, multidisciplinary management and early intervention were essential for optimising outcomes.

The accuracy of urinalysis in identifying infants with bacteremic urinary tract infections (UTIs) is limited, according to a retrospective multicentre study. It involved 110 infants aged 0–3 months with bacteraemic UTIs [5]. Cases of bacteraemic UTI with normal urinalysis results were observed across both genders, various age groups and different pathogens. Heno et al. concluded that relying solely on urinalysis to rule out UTI in infants may lead to significant underdiagnosis. Readers may also be interested in the study by Hakkola et al. on abnormal ultrasound findings following a UTI [6], as well as the paper by González-Anleo et al. on risk factors for multidrug-resistant catheter-associated UTIs [7].

Vomiting after oral administration of medication is common in children. When it happens, there is often uncertainty about the absorption of the given dose and whether to re-dose or not. Despite this, there has been a lack of formal guidelines and recommendations on this topic. Garnemark et al have now developed a decision support tool, intended for doctors and nurses to support the management of this everyday clinical dilemma [8].

Figure 1: Boutillier et al. [1], Figures 2–5: istockphoto.com.